Residents express concern on fire management at community meetings

Officials answer with boots on ground, whenever safe

By Juley Harvey Trail-Gazette

Posted:
12/04/2012 03:52:36 PM MST

Estes Park residents have generally applauded the firefighters' efforts on the Fern Lake Fire, but have questioned the early tactics involved in fighting the fire, leading up to the necessary evacuations ordered early Saturday morning. At the many meetings held by park, county, national and local leaders since the fire blew up early Saturday morning, a contingent of concerned residents continues to express their frustration, dismay and despair -- and sometimes barely repressed anger -- at the evacuation situation. One frequent evacuee said she feels positively "jinxed" by fires now.

Paul Broyles, Type I incident commander, whose team is now in charge of battling the fire, said his national team deploys to all hazardous situations, from 911 to Superstorm Sandy.

Hot Shot leader Paul Cerda speaks to residents during Sunday night's public information meeting at the Estes Park town hall. Among the questions Cerda fielded were inquiries on how the fire was fought leading up to the Dec. 1 flare-up.

However, he said it's odd to be chasing a wildland fire when there are Christmas lights on display. It's just not the season. That has also been a part of the challenge, assembling a team to respond, after the fire season is officially over, the resources depleted and the troops disbanded. With this fire, the national response effort is pretty much tapped out, he said. The firefighting team has to be reassembled and redeployed. That is also true for the air resources. Broyles emphasized that, while the helicopters and tankers may provide more dramatic and obvious moments in fighting a fire, it is the boots on the ground that completely quell a blaze. No victory is possible without the firefighters who physically go into the dangerous terrain and battle the blaze to extinction.

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And no firefighters will be put more in harm's way than is deemed wise, he emphasized.

This late in the season, assembling the national crews provides an added challenge, and Broyles was especially thankful for the local resources. Colorado is extremely well organized, he said. The national team was ordered to come to Estes Park and they took over the command Sunday night at 6 p.m. They were organizing and meeting with sheriff's personnel on Monday, getting the lay of the land.

The public in general may view the aircraft as the prime responders and the real firefighters, he said. However, all the real firefighting happens on the ground. Boots are on the ground -- and have been since the fire's first flare-up Oct. 9 -- when it is safe to put them there. In areas of steep terrain, with limited ingress and egress, and old timber likely to fall, it is simply unsafe, unwise, unacceptable and unsound economically to place firefighters in certain harm's way, if the fire poses no immediate threat to the community, he said. This fire is a perfect storm, according to officials from the park and firefighters -- providing conditions with no humidity, high winds, heavy fuel load, beetle kill trees and terrible terrain.

By Monday evening, Broyles expected to have a contingent of heavy helicopters, a Skycrane and a Kmax (resembling a flying wasp with dual rotors), a light helicopter for reconnaissance, air tankers (coming from California -- where they were held up by winds -- and from Colorado). By the end of Monday, he expected to have two air tankers, 16 crews and numerous fire engines operating on scene, and hoped for the appearance of an infrared-camera-equipped helicopter, to help with reconnaissance. Additionally, there are two feller bunchers on scene--which you don't see very much here, he said -- heavy equipment used to remove trees, to make sure the roads stay clear of huge trees, so the firefighters and equipment can enter and leave areas safely. He has emphasized the danger of falling trees at several of the meetings, saying two people have been killed -- one visitor and one park employee -- by falling trees. "We're doing pretty well, everything considered," he told the evacuees.

Not all the residents agreed, and Broyles answered their questions on "full-suppression fires."

In accordance with Rocky Mountain National Park regulations, Broyles said this is a "full-suppression fire," with no holds barred. That means, when and where it is safe, all resources will be utilized, to keep the fire within the park boundaries. Will it be extinguished 100-percent and is that the goal? Perhaps not, but only those areas completely inaccessible, not deemed to cause harm to the community, in which it is too dangerous to put boots on the ground or too close to community water sources to risk dropping retardant would not be fully suppressed. In all other areas, it's a full fire fight to the finish, officials said.

Larimer County sheriff Justin Smith said the arriving Type I crew members are not strangers to the community. They are learning the specifics of the situation, but they know the terrain. Their people are our people, and no one is an outsider, Smith said

Asked whether the objectives have changed on fighting the fire from the breakout of the Fern Lake Fire, Broyles said it has been a full-suppression fire from the start. However, with the steep terrain involved, you don't put a fire line out there and risk firefighters' lives where there is no immediate community harm. It makes no sense, he said. The heavy fuel load from 800-1,000 years of forest growth without fire means there are lots of dead and down trees, which has created more difficulty in suppressing the fire. One resident asked that common sense be included in the national park's mandate for letting fires burn. To applause from the audience, he said we are in the wind season, with a fire raging, and asked that pressure be brought to bear to use a common-sense approach.

Broyles answered, also to applause, that his marching orders are to "put this thing out, so that there's no chance of it getting away."

Still, there were grumbles among the audience about evacuations and pre-evacuations. One resident, entering his third night away from his home and business location, asked whether pre-evacuation could be extended to areas that were formerly evacuated (pre-evacuations meaning you can stay, but be ready to go immediately). The sheriff explained that the intention is to let people back into their homes, as soon as it is considered safe. Initial orders for the evacuation of the Spur 66 area also included areas that should have been pre-evacuation, he said. Officials do not want to keep folks out, if there is no potential harm. For instance, he said that in the Woodland Heights Fire, electricity and phones were cut off, not allowing for ready communication with residents, so there was an evacuation. Now, the utilities remain on in the area, and it is in pre-evacuation status. Many residents, however, have chosen to be safe, rather than sorry, and leave now, even in pre-evacuation mode.

Smith said officials will continue to monitor the evacuation necessity, but there still may be more evacuations ordered. He said, from his perspective, the lateral part of Moraine Park serves as a funnel. If flames were to shoot through that area, to the Dunraven, everyone south of there would be trapped. Officials will be considering the evacuations in zones. He said officials understand those evacuated are interested in the fire, but more interested in getting back home. Broyles echoed that, along with firefighter safety, officials know it is uppermost in importance to get people back to their homes. That may occur in a phased reentry and there may be customized plans. Going into day three of evacuations, Smith said officials couldn't lift the evacuations safely yet, but are doing their best to accommodate people's needs. Sheriff's personnel are stationed at Moraine Ave. and Marys Lake Road, with a sheriff's communications van also parked at the Park Village center, and personnel are available to escort people to their homes, as needed, with identification shown.

Amidst the appreciation for the fire efforts and the grumbling on the inconveniences, one resident offered this comment: "These gentlemen in uniform are a very small part of the population. Having evacuated us, it gives them a clear space to move around and do their job, without stumbling over somebody because they're there and can't take directions."

Applause greeted his comment. He continued, "The firefighters have to fight to get there, fight to do anything with the fire and fight to get back down. They don't need this (hindrance and second-guessing)."

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